


Don't Waste A Minute

by Miss_Romance_Lover



Category: Emmerdale, robron
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 07:14:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8739841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Romance_Lover/pseuds/Miss_Romance_Lover
Summary: Based on a new spoiler about an unlikely chat between Aaron & Laurel. Aaron has a heart to heart that makes him appreciate what he has all the more.





	

Aaron stood alone in David’s shop, mulling over how much milk he needed to buy to last the week. He didn’t know when he had become so boring and domesticated, but he liked it more than expected. Life was now a far cry from those few years on the run or merely existing in this village, unhappy and unable to relax. These days he was a totally different person. 

It wasn’t so much the early morning milk run that had him smiling; it was the text from Robert just as he picked up a carton. ‘Get more shower gel – and none of your cheap tat. Noah better stay out of my way.’ He shook his head fondly and headed to the next aisle, half-tempted to buy Robert the most offensive gel to hand just for the laughs. He was suddenly distracted, though, by a loud, frustrated sigh. Laurel was pushing baby Dotty’s buggy and had apparently dropped half her shopping on her way out the door. 

“Oh, I should never have bothered leaving the house this morning!” the woman exclaimed, throwing her hands up to her face. 

Aaron abandoned the shower gels and milk to reach her side, picking up the bag of goods sprawled on the floor by her feet. “Here,” he said gently, inspecting the contents. “Nothing’s broken, I don’t think.”

Laurel offered him a weak smile, but it was gone within seconds. “Well maybe not the shopping, but what about my husband?” Immediately she looked horrified by her words, and Aaron didn’t know what to say. “I can’t believe I just said that.”

He put an awkward hand on her shoulder, hoping to reassure her. “Come on, let’s go and sit down. I’ll get us some coffees. Or tea?”

She paused a moment, then sighed again. “Tea. Er, thanks.”

“Sit,” he replied with a smile, and so she did, parking Dotty in her pram next to the table in the corner. 

Aaron asked Tracy to bring their drinks over, and they waited until she had done so and disappeared again before either one of them spoke. “So, I would ask if you’re alright but that would obviously be a really daft question,” he said carefully.

“Sometimes I’m okay,” Laurel considered, checking that the baby was still asleep before looking back at the man. “It comes in waves, this helpless feeling; more often than ever lately, I’ll be honest.”

“And Ashley?”

She looked at the table. “He’s been deteriorating very quickly the last few months. I’m trying to keep it together, I wanted to look after him myself but everyone else thinks he needs to go to a care home. At least part time, anyway. But I just can’t bear the thought of it.”

Aaron’s heart went out to her. He had never known Laurel all that well; yes they shared a godson and she had been married to Marlon for a time, and of course everyone knew about her problem with alcohol. But he had never judged her, and he knew she had never judged him either. He remembered that much when gossip had been rife about Jackson after his death. Ashley’s faith had caused him to strongly disagree with what Aaron had done, but from what he had heard Laurel hadn’t shared that view. Now he wondered whether his experiences with his first boyfriend might allow him to help her in some small way. 

“You feel like if you give in, you’re letting him down?”

She looked at him, startled at the accuracy to which he had guessed her current mind-set. “I…yes,” she admitted, feeling her eyes growing damp. She wiped them with the back of her hand, grateful when Aaron was kind enough not to comment. “But then again I’m letting him down right now just having this conversation.”

“’Course you’re not,” Aaron argued. “If there’s anyone who deserves to have a little vent about life it’s you. If I hadn’t had people like Adam and Paddy to talk to, after Jackson’s accident…well I’d be even more messed up than I am now. Although in your case I’m wondering where Nicola or your dad is to do the same for you. I’m sure they’d be making you feel better than I am.”

Laurel’s face softened. “Oh, Nicola’s got enough on her plate at the moment. Dad’s doing more than enough though; he’s at home watching Ashley and Arthur as we speak. I’ll head off in a bit and leave you in peace. Before I do though, Aaron, Can I ask you something?”

“About Jackson?” he guessed, and she nodded, though she looked guilty about it. “It’s fine,” he assured her. “I don’t talk about him much, but the people that love me know all about him. And I can make an exception for you as well, because you don’t gossip.” She smiled at that. “What do you want to know?”

“Was there ever any doubt in your mind? About looking after Jackson, I mean, if he’d made a different choice. I’m not accusing you of it or anything; it’s just that there have been plenty of doubts in mine over coping with Ashley. And I feel sick even saying it because he’s the love of my life.”

Aaron gulped down the last dregs of his coffee and wiped his mouth, thinking back to an awful time. One of many. “Well I never let on to him about it, but yeah. I didn’t trust myself to be able to handle it. But I knew how I felt about him, even if it took me ages to work it out. That stopped me from walking away, just like it’s always stopped you from doing the same. And it was different for me, before Jackson decided to…” he trailed off, suddenly misty-eyed. “He had Hazel, she was his main carer. I would come over and do my bit; it was nothing compared to what she did for him every day.”

It was the longest conversation he had had with anyone he didn’t consider family, and once he’d finished answering Laurel’s question he became very aware of that.

“I think Hazel must be a far stronger woman than me,” she replied thoughtfully.

“You need to stop being so hard on yourself,” he said quite firmly. “I reckon I’ve worked you out, you know.”

“Sorry?” Laurel looked defensive.

“Deep down, you’re thinking that Ashley going into a care home is probably the right thing for him. But you’re punishing yourself for it. And if there’s one other thing I can tell you about Jackson, it’s that he hated having to rely on people to do everything for him. He was the one that insisted on hiring a home carer, not long after he got out of hospital. As much as he hated it, he preferred that to watching his mum do it all.”

Aaron wondered whether the woman was about to snap at him for assuming what she was feeling, but instead she spoke in a small, shaky voice. “You think that if Ashley could choose without getting muddled, he would prefer outside help too?”

“I can’t answer that for you Laurel, you’re the only one who knows Ashley well enough to judge.”

She nodded, and the two sat there in silence for half a minute before she pulled herself out of her seat and grinned at him. “Aaron Dingle in deep and philosophical chat shocker, eh! Whatever next?”

Aaron caught on to her attempt at lightening the mood and chuckled, standing up with her and picking up her shopping bags. “I’ll come out with you, carry this lot back.”

“Thanks love, that’s good of you. Oh, how much for the tea?” Laurel went to dig her purse out from her bag, but he stopped her in her tracks.

“Don’t be daft, I can shout a neighbour a drink no trouble. Your little one still asleep, is she?” As they left David’s, Aaron peered inside the pram.

“Yeah, she’s spark out, bless her. At least she didn’t have to witness her mummy’s little meltdown.”

They reached her house and Laurel let them in. Doug looked more than a bit surprised to see Aaron wandering through to the kitchen with the shopping, but he smiled without question, telling his daughter that her husband was upstairs having a nap, while Arthur was playing in his room.

Laurel saw him to the door when he declined an offer to stay for lunch. “Thanks again, Aaron,” she told him. “And listen – take every last second of happiness you can get and make the most of it,” she gestured towards his engagement ring. “If I could go back to the start of married life with my Ashley, I’d relive all our good times and I’d…well I’d remind myself to enjoy it that little bit more.” 

Aaron couldn’t find the words to reply, so he simply nodded, feeling the lump in his throat all the way home. He was glad that Robert had the day off along with him, because when he walked through the door he was the only person he wanted to see.

“Robert?” he called out, trying to keep his voice light and casual.

“In here!” his fiancé answered from the living room. He was sitting reading the paper when Aaron found him, and the younger man headed straight for the sofa and dropped down beside him. “You were a long time just for milk and shower gel,” Robert commented, putting down his newspaper. 

“Yeah, I didn’t actually get any.”

“Hmm? Where were you really then? Got another bloke on the go?” he joked, but Aaron barely registered it.

“I was talking to Laurel in the shop. She was having a bad day, what with Ashley being so ill and looking after the baby at the same time. Before I knew it I was going on about Jackson and we sort of ended up comparing notes. Totally different situations I know, but he needed full time care and it looks like Ashley’s heading that way too.”

Of all the things Robert had expected him to say, this wasn’t it. “So she’s thinking about putting him in a home?”

Aaron sighed. “She doesn’t really know what to do. But it’s obvious she can’t carry on as she is.” He sat still for a moment before leaning his head to rest on Robert’s shoulder.

“Hey. You okay?”

He nodded, staying in position as the older man put an arm around him. “Yeah.”

“You can talk to me about anything, you know? Even Jackson.”

“I know,” Aaron smiled, looking up at him to convey the all too familiar words. “It’s not that; I was okay, telling Laurel about him. I’m just thinking about what she’s going through. What she’s got and what she’s going to lose.”

“It’s awful,” Robert agreed.

“I love you.”

“Where did that come from?”

Aaron raised an eyebrow. “It came from the fact that I love you…” he told him, confused by the question.

“No, I mean,” Robert laughed. “You don’t usually blurt it out like that.”

“Yeah well, I know I don’t say it enough. But I know how lucky I am to have you, even if you do drive me crazy sometimes.”

“Er…thanks?”

Sitting up, Aaron’s face grew serious again. “I just don’t want to waste any more time when people like Laurel and Ashley are running out of it. So let’s set a date to get married.”

Robert immediately pulled him in for a kiss. Aaron’s hands found the man’s hair as Robert’s own cupped his face, and they were both beaming when they broke apart. “Yes. Let’s do that,” Robert replied.

Aaron twisted the ring around his finger, remembering Laurel’s words about happiness and taking the time to really embrace it. As he took in the sight of his fiancé, eyes lit up at the thought of their wedding, he promised himself he would follow her advice.


End file.
